Paladin builds
Paladins are not just Paladins. We have many names - Loladins, Critadins, Waradins, Retadins, Clerics, Healadins, Tankadins, and Shockadins. The fact of the matter is that we are the most durable class and can adjust to play in any situation. Only you can decide what type of Pally you want to be! Holy For those of you looking to play a Healadin, Holy is the talent spec to go with. In raids, everyone who can heal, naturally heals. A Paladin fits into this natural order by staying back and healing, and thanks to their ability to wear plate, can be one of the most dangerous healers in the raid group, if they're played well enough. Perhaps reading this guide will simplify for the work you need to do in playing a Healadin. Priest in Plate, Healadin (43/13/5) This build focuses on being a healer/buffer in raids and instances, and is not too shabby as a PvP healer. You can still nuke somewhat with Holy Shock. Talent Calculator Link Has everything you need from holy, as well as some good defenses from protection. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=aVxuMxzhektVMphMc This one concentrates more on survivability. Talent Build Holydin (40/0/11) See it for yourself (lvl 60). Alternative 43/0/18 build Being a hybrid class a Paladin has the option to both DPS and heal, and it is important to always remember that there is a time for both. Unfortunately there are very few stats that help a paladin in both healing and DPS. Getting gear with +Crit% will gimp your healing and getting gear with +Healing will gimp your DPS. +Healing/Dmg gear fortunately helps us with both. This build focuses on critting your Holy Shock, Seal of Command procs, and Judgment of Command for DPS while still being able to adequately support a team. Now new and improved with the new talent changes post 2.0: You won't be getting big damage numbers comparable to Crusader Strike damage builds, though you can still heal fairly well in raids as well as PvP encounters. You may move points around from the Retribution tree to Improved Seal of Righteousness if you are using a fast 1-hander. Shockadin (40/0/21) BC Shockadin builds are a popular Burning Crusade Builds that aim to give a Holy Paladin some solo PvE and non-Arena capability. Shockadin builds are meant to deal good burst damage by spelldamage, while still being able to support and heal itself and others. Almost invariably a Shockadin will use one-handed spelldamage weapon and a shield. Key talents are Improved Seal of Righteousness, Holy Shock, Holy Guidance and Sanctity Aura. The player may wish to tweak the other talents to his liking, such as taking Eye for an Eye for PvP, or choosing between Sanctified Light and Improved Blessing of Wisdom. Sample build: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=qVEh0gz0eoxZVfx0bcz Protection Note: Since Patch 2.0 Reckoning build no longer functions as the talent reckoning got completely changed. Now it is more for tanking purposes, which was probably its original purpose instead of a 2-hander cloth killer. Tankadin, 2.0 (0/44/7) Talent Calculator Link Since Patch 2.0 Paladins have been given three important tools to tank: Righteous Defense (basically a taunt), Spiritual Attunement (Rank 1: 8% mana gained from each heal. Rank 2: 10%), and Consecration (As of patch 2.0 this spell is trainable instead of diving into the holy tree). PvE Holy tank (23/38/0) Well I made this build solely for when you have to tank murlocs on Tidewalker in SSC. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=aVxhMxzbZE0xIx0kMMq PvE Protection/Shield (x/46/10) Talent Calculator Link This is the default protection spec for ALL paladins to follow should they want to tank 70+ instances or raid end game as a tank. The other builds shown here are solo/levelling/hybrid builds which have their uses however this one is aimed specifically at tanking the hardest and best that a Paladin can achieve. The reason the Holy talent tree has been left as an X and overall is missing 5 points is because the last 5 points are not strictly needed anyway. Depending on progression, guild spot, overall gear or personal preference these last 5 points are usually spent in Divine Intellect to boost the overall mana or in Precision/Guardian's Favour to increase chance to hit (for more agro) and reduced cooldown on Blessing of Protection (handy in a number of situations). Some people may prefer however to spend the points in Retirbution to reduce Judgement times etc. The most important thing however are the 56 talents that have been selected as the base build. To have any chance of tanking properly as a Paladin these 56 are MOST crucial. Redoubt and Shield Specialization are essential for damage mitigation. Imp Righteous Fury is essential for holding and producing agro. Anticipation significantly increases your defense skill which contributes to the necessary 490+ Defense Rating that all tanks require to stand a chance end game. Ardent Defender and Sacred Duty are highly neceassry to mitigation and stamina. Lastly, 5 points in Deflection for the 5% increased parry. Defense rating adds to the chance to dodge/block/parry and stacking another 5% is greatly desirable but far too often overlooked by people creating Protection Paladins. Follow these exact 56 points and gear up appropriately and you will have little trouble tanking and progessing. PvP Protection/Heavy Tank (10/41/10) Talent Calculator Link This build focuses on extreme toughness while dealing damage to attackers by Blessing of Sanctuary and Holy Shield. With reckoning you will also have a fairly good DPS even with a 1 hander, especially if the enemy is beating on you. The enemy will realize that they are dealing very little damage to you while they are getting hit hard by an unseen force. Note that Holy Shield and Blessing of Sanctuary will deal damage to hunters' shots that are blocked as well. The trick of this build is to get the enemies to attack you. Do so by 'aggroing' enemy players either by coming close and attacking them, or by healing nearby friends just to get their attention. Toss an Avenger's Shield either to close the distance between kiters or to slow down enemies that are running away. Note that this build also allows you to tank in raids as well, and allow spot healing as needed. Ideal gear for tanking requires +STA, +DEF, and +Spell Damage. Holy Tank, Classic Weapon/Shield 0/41/20) Talent Calculator Link Alternative without SoC A build which is centered around the image of shield and sword wielding knights. This build relies a lot on the mobs attacking the Paladin to actually hit the Paladin. Improved Aura of Retribution, Blessing of Sanctuary, combined with Holy Shield, and Redoubt give the enemies multiple ways to inflict Holy damage back onto themselves. Combat consists of Judging either to Wisdom or Crusader depending on number of enemies and cycling through Judgments of Command on the enemy. While block with Redoubt and Holy Shield with Blessing of Sanctuary up its possible to do well over 100 points for each hit blocked. Redoubt and Holy Shield combine for a 60% chance to block nearly ensuring the damage will occur. Concentrate on Stam/Int gear. The shield being used should bear the best shield spike the Paladin can obtain. PvE Solo/Duo Survivability build, Survivadin (23/38/0) Survivadin Talent Link A build with heavy emphasis on the Paladin's ability to survive against near-impossible odds. The deep delve into Holy provides more than enough healing power to be effective in soloing, duoing, and off-healing (Or main healing with proper gear) in instances. The Protection talents work mostly on making the Paladin as hard to kill as possible, including the potential for a 70%+ block chance, heavy near-death 80%+ damage reduction, and the coveted 'uncrushable' status in end-game instances. Reckoning and Redoubt are produced almost constantly when fighting swarms of enemies (that can hardly harm you), which adds a very useful damage and defense bonus. Holy Shield and Blessing of Sanctuary bring a nasty kickback to everyone you block, and Improved Righteous Fury turns that into a constant aggro generating maelstrom that, if given a few moments to generate proper threat, can make aggro loss a thing of the past. Stuns every 45 seconds keep the biggest enemy out as long as possible, and Sacred Duty gives ten seconds of immortality for when things get rough; With proper mana regeneration, this is more than enough time to turn the tide of the most desperate battles. The Holy tree's Illumination + Divine Favor provide a critical heal every two minutes at a mere 40% cast cost, and since against normal monsters you will rarely have to heal more than once every two minutes this makes a majority of your self-heals cheap criticals. Spiritual Focus makes healing in any battle a cinch, and finally Unyielding Faith provides a startling surprise for Warlocks who think they have you figured out as well as helping to prevent pesky trash mobs from knocking you off your mount when you just feel like ignoring them and turning in your freshly soloed Group quest. The main tactic for this build is to keep Mana regeneration high; Luckily, the Paladin comes equipped with several abilities that make this easy even with semi-low Intelligence and Spirit. Fighting with Blessing of Wisdom on and Judgement of Wisdom blasted at your enemies keeps the mana flow strong, and with Seal of the Crusader to back it up the regens come faster and Reckoning is guaranteed to not waste a single deft blow. Keeping Improved Righteous Fury on at all times adds a hefty +6% damage reduction, and on the off-chance you get below 35% life Ardent Defender is ready to keep you alive for some much needed heals and rebuffs. Retribution Aura makes long lasting battles even more painful to those silly enough to think they can break your defense. Being a wall of sheer Adamantium gives more than enough time to throw a heal to a friend while tanking (outside of instances of course), which your enemies will only translate as a heavy threat increase. Some people may choose to take 'Divine Intellect' instead of 'Divine Strength' for the first five talent points; This is purely playstyle based and the core of the build is highly effective with either choice. Retribution Note: As of Patch 2.0 Paladins have been given the capacity to DPS instead of tanking or healing. This is due in the most part to Crusader Strike, which is the 41st Retribution Point. Paladin Leveling Build- (5/8/48) This build maxes out the damage output of you paladin and reduces downtime, enabling fast leveling and soloing. UPDATE REQUEST: A level 60 build would be helpful here. Not much leveling gets done at level 70. http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=qxZxhZEbetr0hVhot Talent Calculator Link Retribution Paladin (0/8/43) Talent Calculator Link (lvl 60). This spec is heavily in-debt to Judgments and Seals, since Fanaticism adds +15% crit to all Judgments. Sanctity Aura helps with Holy Damage. The idea is, more or less, to go in from afar and use Repentance, Judgment of Crusader, Crusader Strike, Seal of Command, Hammer of Justice, Judgment of Command, Crusader Strike. This should devastate an opponent or mob whether it be PvP or PvE. Also since most Raids are skeptical of Paladins make sure to have Imp. Sanctity Aura for the +2% to all damage done for the group, and Sanctified Crusader for the +3% to crit the Judged opponent from all sources. The passive ability Spiritual Attunement helps with mana conservation. Don't forget to also use Righteous Defense to peel off any mobs off the healers have drawn. We're made of plate so we can take more punishment than they, until a proper tank comes along to deal with it. This build should hold its own in PvP and PvE a like. Just don't forget to heal ;) Heavy Ret, Critadin (5/8/38) Talent Calculator Link This spec's main focus is on the Retribution Tree, although it invests in the early talents of the Holy Tree and Protection Tree to gain both a strength and armor bonus. This build is meant for Paladins who are more interested in dealing damage rather than playing a great role in a group or in PvP. While this build does have its weaknesses, it does make the Paladin have a much greater chance to be a threat on the DPS scales. This build is usually seen as a PvP build, since many raiding paladins prefer holy or protection variations. A good Paladin will find themselves busy on any raid if they have a balanced approached to healing, cleansing, blessings, judgments and raid recovery REGARDLESS of their specialization. Never listen to people who try to tell you how a Paladin should be. (added 10/11/06 by AJC) If you choose to raid with this build there are several considerations to make. * Keep Judgment of Wisdom (or Light) up on the main mob at all times. Although Holy-spec paladins may need to re-apply these important debuffs only infrequently due to the Lasting Judgment talent, the transit time between the healing zone and the melee zone still cuts into their overall healing efficiency. If you intend to stay in melee range during most of the fight, having you maintain these Judgments is easier on the raid. Don't forget you can still judge Righteousness and Command while your JoW/JoL is up. * Conserve your mana. If a main tank goes down or a mob is loose in the raid, your priority should immediately shift away from DPS. Either picking up a loose mob and switching to one-hand/shield (if your raid is low on warriors) or landing a few heals during a chaotic moment can help the raid get through a difficult transition. Rekabution Paladin (0/27/34) Talent Calculator Link This spec uses an almost equal balance between the protection tree and retribution tree. This build give a lot of armor, but at the same time lets the paladin deal damage effectively. This build makes it so you don't have to stop your damage dealing to heal as often. It is best against non-caster players, and even more specifically rogues. Reckoning is the main bonus of using this build, and a lot of the talents leading up to the abilities at the end of the tree are variable, such as 2h weapon specialization if you decide to use a 1h. This build will almost guarantee you a win in any evenly matched 1 on 1 PvP battle. Drop Judgment of the Crusader, activate Seal of Command and wait for reckoning to activate. Once it does, bubble (due to Sacred Duty you are free from any attack slowing effects.) and just lay waste to your opponent. If they aren’t finished by the time your bubble is over, pally stun them and if they are still alive wait for your health to drop, use Repentance and heal. The primary judgment you will use is Crusader, the primary blessing Might, the primary aura Devotion and the primary seal is Command. This spec works better with a faster weapon, as you would get all 5 reckoning strikes. Category:Guides Category:Paladins Category:Talents Category:Paladin Talents